In which we make plans for Woodstock!

Guess what! Maddy said she's planning on making the drive up to Woodstock next week! I am soooo psyched! (For the record, no, I don't expect to actually meet John Ashton up there, but I really want to see the place for real.)



I even have a new dress for the trip (no pun intended!) Maddy made it from the sundress pattern on Julie Old Crow's site, but made a tiered skirt instead of a one-piece. She said she used to have one a lot like it.
















While she was at it, she made Robin a new dress, too. I like the fabric, even if only the flowers are pink. I might ask for a dress out of it.

"You're really going up there?!" Emmaline sounded shocked.

"Yeah, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday," Maddy said. "Depends on how Monday goes." She has an appointment with a staffing agency Monday - they called her Friday and said that although the job she applied for was already filled, they still wanted to bring her onboard. She's happy. She knew the job was a bit of a stretch (she's worked in a lot of very different places, but not in a medical office, which
 

this job was) but she actually wanted to get her resume in front of someone at this particular agency.

"I didn't want to just drop it on them out of the blue," she explained. "But I've been waiting for an opportunity to get on their radar, so to speak. They're a really good agency."

"But isn't that dangerous, going up there like that? What are you going to do?" Emmaline said.

"I don't really know. Look around, take some pictures, check out a bead shop that's up there, just hang out, you know?" Maddy shrugged. She looked at me. "Sort of a mini-vacation, I guess. I don't know. I don't think I've ever taken one like that."

"Mini, you mean?" I said.

"No, a vacation. I mean, we went on "vacation" for two weeks every summer when I was a kid - same two weeks, same drive down the same roads, stopping at the same motels on the way to visit the same relatives in the same order for the same number of days each year. No stops along the way except for one year - my father wanted to see the rose gardens in Hershey, PA, so we stopped there for exactly one hour. That's all we saw - the rose gardens. Nothing else."

"Where were all your relatives?" I said.

"Arkansas. Jonesboro and Fisher. Not exactly the vacation capitals of the world. Although I do vividly remember spending some memorable nights in my grandmother's storm cellar thanks to the tornado sirens." She smiled wryly. "I also remember it being really, really flat. Like pancake flat. That was weird for me, coming from the foothills of the Taconics. Of course, one year, we got to watch news coverage of that big blackout in New York City with all the looting and everything. I think our power was out for awhile, too, because when we got back all the food in the freezer had defrosted and the few things left in the fridge were spoiled. That did not smell good..."

I admit that going the same place the same way every year doesn't sound like much of a vacation to me. "I don't know, Emmie, that doesn't sound like - where is she?"

I hoped it wasn't something I'd said....

~*~



"Shel, did Emmie come by here?"

"She was headed for the bedrooms," he said. "She looked kind of freaked out. Hey, nice outfit. Very sixties."

"Thanks." I glanced at the book. "What are you reading?"









I don't know. As much as Maddy loves him, I don't think she's going to go for the idea of converting her computer room/fabric storage room/walk-in closet/bead storage room into an iguana habitat.











~*~

"Why does it scare you so much?" I heard John-John saying.

"It's just that - well, we never did anything like that. I was always told that wanting to, you know, do things was too dangerous. It wasn't what good dolls did. So - I didn't." Emmaline sounded confused. "And now I'm finding out that I'm supposed to be adventurous and wanting to do things and all and - I don't know."

"But do you want to?" he said.

She thought about it. "I don't want to be like my parents were, afraid to do anything for fear of getting hurt."

"So start now," I said. "Come with us to Woodstock."

"I can't..."

"Who says?"

"Why not?" Maddy said. "You never go anywhere. It'll be fun."

She considered it. "I - okay..."

"Yaay! We're going to have so much fun!"

"Uh, Caroline - put me down...."

"Sorry...."


This trip is gonna rock!!!!